


Ending

by lalejandra



Category: lotrips
Genre: F/M, M/M, Transformative Works Welcome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-03-24
Updated: 2004-03-24
Packaged: 2019-07-15 07:36:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16058516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lalejandra/pseuds/lalejandra
Summary: Love ends, but Rings of Power are forever. So are Hobbits.





	Ending

**I: Triptych**

Dominic is tan from Hawaii, Elijah is paler than usual but his skin is luminous, and Billy has been smiling. Viggo can't remember the last time he saw Billy smile away from a camera.

They're Hobbits again, the way they're supposed to be.

Existence couldn't have been satisfying for any of them before they met. Not one of the three is truly whole unless the other two are with him. Viggo's pleased that they've finally figured this out; they're a trinity, and they need to be together.

It's just that Viggo doesn't think he's supposed to feel so left out.

*

Viggo likes getting phone calls from people who don't identify themselves or ask him to participate in a conversation. Like when Dom calls and says, "Come to my house," and then hangs up. That works really well for Viggo, because if he feels like going out, he can go -- but if he is feeling off, he can stay home, and say, "Oh, I didn't realize that was you."

Clever Dom always knows when Viggo is lying, but he lets Viggo get away with this. Only this. Dom allows Viggo his privacy -- and his self-delusions. Sometimes.

Viggo likes that about him.

*

Viggo stops returning their calls. He doesn't want to go anywhere with them -- not to Glasgow with Billy or Hawaii with Dominic or back to New Zealand with Elijah and Hannah. He doesn't want to be surrounded by happiness, to be bolstered up by the good moods of others. He wants to paint and scream and write and ride his fucking horse, and fuck anyone who thinks he should do something better for his mental health.

Fuck those stupid Hobbits, and fucking Orlando, and _Hollywood_ \-- all of it. It was a set, a script, a character, and now it's over.

*

**II: Tropistic**

Orlando doesn't understand why he's the bad guy, just because he's dealing better with the cameras, because he's got himself a girlfriend and he's able to pick and choose what he wants to work on. He's living the American dream, right? The Hollywood dream,

He doesn't get why people are using words like "empty" and "hollow" -- he wants to shake Elijah and Billy and Dom, he wants to say, "Mates, it was just a _movie_. It was a set and a script and now it's _over_." He won't, not ever, because they take it so serious-like, but, oh, he wants to

*

**III: Telos**

Hannah didn't hate it at first, but now -- now it's like, what the fuck? Elijah doesn't have time for her anymore, and he's all moving across the goddamn country without saying word one. And even when he's like, "Come hang out with me," he isn't there. Not really.

She knows exactly where he really is.

She never would, you can't tell Lij anything, but she wants to be all like, "Yo, what the fuck? It was a script, man. It was a story, they're just characters -- it was a job, and now it's _over_. Let it the fuck go, dude."

*

**IV: Turbid**

Sometimes Billy has these moments of perfect clarity, points of time when he just understands the entire world _and_ his place in it. But most of the time he's as clueless as the next bloke, because clarity never stays. Bill's a different man when he's alone, but every time, when he's with Lij and Dom, he's Pip, fool of a Took, and he can't pull out of it except into a sulk. The camera's never off, no one ever says cut; it doesn't fucking _end_. And Billy knows it never will, because no one will bloody well let it die.

*

**V: Torque**

D'you want to go to Hawaii, Dom, and film a pilot for one of the most influential men in television? Only if I can bring my pet Elwood. I can't sleep without him now that he's back from whatever he was doing in NY. Can I keep him forever? I promise to clean up his messes, take him for walks, and stop him from fucking his sister when they're both too drunk to stand. D'ya want Billy, too, Dom, d'you want them all? It was just supposed to be a script, a set, a _beginning_ \-- but now there's no _end_.

*

**VI: Torn**

There are five people who know David's name, and they all think he's secretly in love with Elijah. And that's it.

David knows that's kind of thinking's bollocks -- but some of his best scenes were cut, press only wants dirt on the others, and did anyone notice he was in _Moulin Rouge_? Yeah, credited right above Kylie fucking Minogue.

David wants Rings to be over, but the Hobbits are too into being Hobbits, and David can't let fucking go either. Because for the rest of his life, he's the bloke who just wasn't good enough to transcend the ensemble.

*

**VII: Trowed**

Nobody knows who Harry is, and nobody wants to talk to him. No one hunts him down in his little house in the New Zealand countryside. Nobody tramples his grass or steps on his flowers or speculates about his love-life or takes photographs of him through the kitchen window.

Peter had promised that nobody would give a shit about the man who played Isildur, and he was right. Maybe Harry wishes, in his heart of hearts, in the dead of night, that Peter was just a little wrong -- but mostly he likes being left alone, because he likes the quiet.

*

**VIII: Twinkling**

Sir Ian is tired of being called Sir Ian all the time. Even his friends are doing it. Why can't they just call him Ian? He's also tired of this strange idea that he's some kind of fairy godmother, handing out lube and condoms, guiding the world toward the West Hollywood lifestyle. He's just a _man_ , and he fucks other men, and he happens to pick interesting roles, and for the love, he's not _actually_ Gandalf. Peter said cut, the movies ended, and now Ian has _moved on_. As much as he loves his castmates, he wishes they would too.

*

**IX: Thinking**

Viggo sometimes forgets that he no longer needs to carry his sword everywhere he goes. He picks it up on his way out for groceries; takes it to ride TJ. He almost brought it to the _Hidalgo_ premiere, but Henry gently wrested it away from him.

This gives Viggo an air of mystery and eccentricity, which his manager and publicist love. However, as far as Viggo is concerned, it means that he's still not free of the subtle pull of Aragorn -- and might never be. What's disturbing is that this doesn't bother him as much as he thinks it should.

*

**X: Tautologous**

Elijah doesn't want to be thought of as Frodo for the rest of his life. But he knew it was something that might happen when he took on the project. Well, he didn't know, but Hannah knew, and his mom -- and everyone else. He just didn't take their concerns seriously, and still doesn't. So the fuck what if he's Frodo for the rest of his life? Worse things have happened -- like 9/11, and _Flipper_ , and his goatee. What had he been thinking? This is why he needed his other Hobbits; they would have stopped him from doing something that stupid.

*

Worse things have happened, like Franka leaving him right before -- well, he had a ring and everything. "I bet the ring is gold," she said scornfully. "You can't get away from it. Lij, it's fucking _over_." Obviously she was talking about more than their relationship, but he didn't bother having that argument again. Billy and Dom comforted him; Viggo took him surfing; Hannah didn't say, "I told you so, Frodo." Being a Hobbit obsessed with a Ring of Power is better than falling in and out of love, because love ends, but Rings of Power are forever. So are Hobbits.

  



End file.
